CAVS NEED TO THINK OUT OF THE BOX

I want to make one thing clear, I AM NOT A CLEVELAND CAVS FAN. Actually if anything, I despise them since they are rivals to my Bulls, and because I am on several email threads where all day, all they do is talk about Lebron, the CAVS, and how good they are. That being said, I am still a huge NBA fan, and I'm one of the gazillion people out there looking to see a Kobe vs Lebron Finals because that would just be sick. Now I don't know about you guys, but again I'm on a ton of different sports email threads, and all day and all night all we do is fight about Kobe vs Lebron, aka THE GREAT DEBATE. I'm also a huge Kobe fan so I'm usually the underdog, and get ripped all day long. I definitely want to see Kobe beat Lebron in a heads up matchup so I can shut all the haters up. You can see why I would love to see this matchup happen THIS YEAR! I need this debate to stop now, so my blood pressure can go back to normal after continuously fighting with my friends for the past 2 years. It's gotten to the point now where it has gotten personal, and friendships have been ended because of this debate, it's really crazy. Anyways, my main point here is I want to see Kobe vs Lebron, and with the Cavs down 3-1 in their series, things are not looking good for Lebron. I got to thinking, and this is what I came up with...

The Magic have beaten the Cavs 11 out of the past 15 times. Now I understand when the Cavs players, coaches, and fans say look man, we were just a couple of shots away from being up 3-1 in this series too. It's not over, we can come back, so why should we change anything. We got a game at home tonight, which you should win, and then the pressure is on the Magic, and yadda yadda yadda. I counter that by saying that is great if it was just this series, but when a team beats u consistently even by 30 on some nights, and you have a sample set of 15 games to prove it, then something is flawed in your thinking and something is definitely wrong with this matchup. Which means you need to THINK AND REALIZE and do something different, think out of the box as they say. Now the NBA is all about matchups, we all know that. Every team has its kryptonite when they face a team they just have problems matching up against. I remember the Bulls kryptonite were the Pistons. That was until we punked em, swept em, and they walked off the court without shaking our hands(busters). Anyways, we all know the Magic are the Cavs kryptonite. The Cavs just don't matchup well vs the Magic because of their front court. Side Show plays hard, but let's face it, he can't guard Dwight Howard. He just isn't strong enough. Hedo pretty much murders anyone the Cavs put on him, especially with that screen and roll the Magic keep doing to the Cavs over and over. And the Cavs have no answer for Lewis because he can shoot over or go by just about anyone the Cavs can play on him. With all that being said, the Cavs need a radical change, and the change I am proposing is to play Lebron James at the 5. At least for a little while...



Now a lot of you are going to ride on me, or call me crazy, but why not give it a shot. Heck if Magic did it, why can't the KING? In my opinion, Lebron is strong enough and he can play Howard 1 on 1. Lebron is definitely stronger and faster than both Z and Side Show combined, so that's a plus already. Even if he can't guard him 1 on 1, you put some quicker guys out there to help out, and have a nice swarming defense on Howard and the Magic. A lot of you are probably going to say then that Lebron might get into foul trouble, it's too risky, we can't chance it. Well, in case you didn't know, Lebron is one of those guys that commits the least amount of fouls in the playoffs, so why not give it a shot? If he gets a couple of cheap fouls, they can change it up, but why not try it? You never know the result of something, until you give it a try in life.

I also think that if the Cavs go with Lebron at the 5, they will have a huge advantage on the offensive side of the ball. If you go with a small lineup of say Mo Williams, Delonte, Sasha, Wally, and Lebron, this will create mad matchup problems now for the Magic. Who will Dwight Howard guard? There is no way he tries to hold Lebron on D, so he would probably guard Wally. If he does that, then you take Howard out of the lane on defense and open things up for Lebron, because all Wally does is sit outside anyways. He tries posting up sometimes, but have you seen Wally try to post up and do fadeaways? It's scary. Stick to the three point shot player. But back to the lineup. I just think it will spread the floor out a lot for Lebron to do his thing, and with this game being at home, if the shooters can hit a couple shots early, this will get them going for not only this game, but for the rest of the series.

Also, I'm not saying they should start with this lineup or go with this lineup for the entire game, but how about trying it in the third or fourth quarter instead? The Magic have OWNED the Cavs in the third and fourth quarters of this series, so why not try something different then and throw off the Magic? Going small worked a little bit last game for the Cavs, but why not go the extra mile, and go this small? Or when Howard goes to the bench maybe? Why not try it out? If anything, this makes Stan Van Gundy have to think about some things and come up with a counter to that offensive squad you put out there. Again, seeing as SVG has owned Mike Brown in this series, it's worth a shot.

The Cavs look down and out right now, so I definitely think something new needs to be done and tried. You have Mo Williams pretty much in tears after losing their last game, so maybe this feeling of the Cleveland curse or whatever you want to call it has finally sunk in on these players, and even on the GREAT ONE himself. If they don't do something tonight, this series will be over and the best team these cleveland Cavs fans have ever seen will be gone even before we get to the NBA Finals. If that happens, my dream NBA Finals matchup of Kobe vs Lebron will be ruined too and the Great Debate will go on forever. If that happens, more friendships will be ended and my blood pressure will skyrocket some more.

Mike Brown has definitely tried all he can to switch things up, but he hasn't tried this yet. Why not give it a shot? Lebron at the 5, the Cavs in 7. Do it Mike Brown. Let me know what you players think.

P.S. If this doesn't work, don't kill me Lebron and Cavs fans. Thanks.